128	GAM?:  BIRDS OF INDIA  AND  ASIA.
they are not easily distinguished from the ordinary
plumage of the rump.
It should be noted that the so-called Button-
quails or Bustard-quails do not belong to the pheas-
ant family at all, but form a curious little group
of their own, the Hemipodes, which will be dealt
with at the close of this series. They have the same
soft tails as the typical quails, but differ from them
and from all other Phasionida in having no hind-
toe,* no web at the base of the toes, and only a
single row of scales down the front of the shank.
The head has also a quite different expression from
that of ordinary quails, the bill being longer and the
eyes yellowish white.
The typical or soft-tailed quails fall into two
sections, one containing the Common, Japanese
and Rain quails, with the sexes not very different
and about a dozen feathers in the tail, and the
other the little Painted Quail, in which the male
and female are extremely unlike and there are only
eight tail feathers. The plumage in these quails
is marked conspicuously with light streaks above,
and there is no spur in either sex, though this does
not prevent the males from fighting furiously.
They live always on the ground, and are more or
less migratory.
* The Australian Plain-Wanderer (Pedionomus torquatus] has a hind-
toe and some other Australian Hemipodes have short stout bills, but the
above characters will diagnose alt Indian -species.